1979: Technical malfunctions allow uncontrollable pressure to build in Ixtoc 1, an exploratory oil well off Mexico’s southeastern coast. The blowout preventer fails, the wellhead explodes, and oil starts to flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Over the next 10 months, 140 million gallons of oil flows from Ixtoc 1 into the Gulf of Mexico, […]

1919: Oregon passes the nation’s first per-gallon tax on gasoline. It’s only a penny, and it’s only one state, but you know where things go from here. New York City started collecting registration fees on those new-fangled motor vehicles in 1901, and the state of Missouri took that road two years later. By 1914, every […]

1973: The Endangered Species Act is signed into law by President Nixon. The act came into being as Americans grew increasingly aware of the damage being done to the environment — and the threat posed to specific animal and plant species — by rampant economic growth. Declaring existing conservation policies inadequate, Nixon tasked Congress with […]